


It's Too Late for This

by TiBun



Category: Marvel
Genre: Deaf Clint Barton, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Insomnia, M/M, One Shot, Protective Bucky Barnes, Unexpected Visitors, WinterHawk Bingo, winterhawk - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-01-04
Packaged: 2021-03-14 15:35:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28547979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TiBun/pseuds/TiBun
Summary: Bucky has no patience for people breaking into his home in the middle of the night, even on nights where he can't sleep.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Clint Barton
Comments: 8
Kudos: 113
Collections: Winterhawk Bingo Round Two





	It's Too Late for This

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own any recognizable characters, I only explore the possibilities.
> 
> Winterhawk Bingo: Insomnia

Sleep wasn’t something that came easily. At least, not _frequently_ for Bucky. Even after years of therapy and healing; countless nights tucked up warm and safe, he was still haunted by the past.

And he wasn’t alone.

Long midnights had been spent in the community kitchen of Avengers tower. A warm mug of coffee or cocoa wrapped between his hands as he simply shared the space with Clint Barton who also had a past filled with monsters that haunted him. It had been comforting, and slowly the two had grown closer. They had begun to share their monsters with each other, shared their free time during the day...and finally they had started sharing a bed.

The bed sharing had helped a lot. Both of them sleeping better wrapped up in each other’s arms. But it wasn’t perfect. There were still bad nights for one or both of them. Clint gasping awake to escape a flash of blue, Bucky to escape the sight of _the_ chair… or any of the other things that haunted them.

Bucky and Clint had enjoyed a nice quiet evening together in their apartment away from the tower. Their little hole in the wall Bed-Stuy apartment they went to escape the pressures of being an Avenger. They had enjoyed some of their favorite takeout as they watched Dog Cops together, Lucky and Alpine curled up on one end of the couch as they accupide the other. Then they had enjoyed a soak in the bath together, Bucky even convincing Clint to use one of the not-purple bath bombs for a change, and then they tucked themselves in bed together, drifting off to sleep.

Only Bucky didn’t stay that way. He was wide awake, his skin crawling in the way it did every time his dreams were twisted by memories of what Hydra did to him.

Sighing, he glanced over at Clint who was curled up around one of their pillows. His fingers twitching against its fluffiness in the way they often did when Clint was using ASL in his dreams. It brought a small smile to Bucky’s face as he reached out to run his fingers through his husband’s messy hair.

They had been married for almost half a year, and Bucky still found himself amazed that he was lucky enough to find such a light in his life. That Clint loved him just as much as Bucky loved Clint. That he’d said yes when Bucky had proposed by tying the ring to one of Clint’s practice arrows and waiting for him to draw it at the range when they were holding one of their shooting competitions. That memory was one of Bucky’s favorites. Clint hadn’t noticed the glint of gold until he was already mid-release, and he was chasing after his own arrow to confirm what he’d thought he’d caught a glimpse of. Clint had gotten to the target to look before turning his eyes full of questioning wonder back at Bucky who had laughed and gotten to one knee. Clint had grabbed the whole arrow and ran to fling himself at Bucky with his answer spilling from his lips between kisses.

Hell, Clint had even taken Bucky’s name, though the press knew nothing of their marriage and still referred to Clint as Hawkeye or Clint Barton instead of Clint Barnes. Neither of them were in a rush to correct the press on it, however. They liked their privacy, and the moment they found out that two Avengers had gotten married to each other, that’s all they would be hounded about every time they left the privacy of their apartment or the tower. They knew word would get out eventually, but they weren’t going to rush it.

Caught up in the memory of their engagement, Bucky felt some of his discomfort start to ease. His heartbeat calming and the crawling in his skin starting to fade. It wasn’t a perfect fix that would allow him to snuggle back down for the rest of the night, but at least he wouldn’t be shaking when he got up to go make himself something hot to drink while sitting on the couch. Maybe with Alpine in his lap if she was awake. Lucky would likely curl up on his feet no matter what. He was a trained emotional support animal, and he always seemed to know when he was needed, even in the middle of the night. For Clint, Lucky would get right up on him, but Bucky was a cat person for a reason and Lucky knew that Bucky preferred not to have a big dog on top of him. It was too restrictive in a way that didn’t mix well with Bucky’s past trauma. The purring of a cat soothed him much better.

Sighing, Bucky leaned down to press a kiss to Clint’s temple before moving to get out of their bed and begin the usual ritual of a nightmare night when suddenly he heard the slide of wood against wood, followed by the crash and thud of something falling and knocking things over, which of course was quickly followed by Lucky’s barking.

Bucky acted quickly, grabbing one of his larger throwing knives off the dresser as he ran down the steps to the main floor of the small apartment. He could see a figure pushing themselves up near a window that had been opened, Lucky was right there, growling and barking at the intruder. Alpine had also been awakened and was hissing from the top of her cat tree.

Bucky readied the knife for throwing as he reached out to slap the light switch, flooding the room with light, which made the figure—the man freeze. He was tall and well built with shaggy red hair poking out from under his grey baseball cap.

Bucky studied him with what he knew was his scariest murder glare as Alpine hopped down from her tree and scampered away up to the bedroom loft.

Faded blue hoodie under a worn brown leather jacket, faded blue jeans with a hole in the knee and frayed around the hems. Dirty white sneakers, and—yup. A gun tucked in the belt back where most wouldn’t notice.

“You just broke into the wrong fucking apartment, son.” Bucky growled, not even caring that he sounded too much like Steve. He was tired and not happy, and if Clint woke up, he’d be even less happy about their late-night visitor. Clint deserved a good night’s sleep. The sound wouldn’t wake him up; Clint was deaf and had taken out his aids before bed, but that didn’t mean the fully trained spy wasn’t capable of being woken up when there was an intruder in his home.

The man was still frozen in place by the open window, his blue eyes wide and glued to Bucky’s metal arm which was on full display as he’d gone to bed topless. People easily overlooked Bucky on the street when he was in a soft hoodie with his metal hand in a pocket, but when it was on full display, there was no mistaking who he was. His arm was the most recognizable part of the Winter Soldier. And anyone who knew any stories about the Winter Soldier knew that he could bring a knife to a gun fight and win, so he was sure the burglar or whomever the trespassing man was would think twice before reaching for his gun.

Finally, the man’s eyes flickered around the apartment, taking in his surroundings, eyes lingering on the collection of bows Clint had hanging over the couch before locking back on Bucky.

“Who the fuck are you?” the man asked.

“Pretty sure I should be asking you that, Punk.”

“You don’t live here.”

“And how would you know that?” Bucky took a threatening step closer, “You’re the one breaking into my apartment in the middle of the night and upsetting my cat and dog.”

“This apartment belongs to Hawkeye, not the fucking Winter Soldier!”

Bucky let his lips curl into a dark smirk, “I thought you didn’t know who I was.”

“That was rhetorical, dumbass.”

“You’ll be a deadass if you don’t start answering _my_ questions.”

“Look, I’m not here for you. It’s obvious I’m not here for you.”

“Well, knowing that you are aware that this apartment belongs to Hawkeye, I can guess you aren’t just some petty burglar who has the rotten luck of choosing the wrong damn apartment to hit. No petty thief would knowingly risk breaking into the home of an Avenger. And seeing as you’re armed, I’d say you’re just a sloppy assassin who failed to do his research and case the joint before making his move.”

“What? No! You got me all wrong! I’d—I’d never hurt Clint—erm, well, again… I’d never hurt him again.”

“This conversation isn’t going as well as you think it is.” Bucky growled.

“Oh come on! I’m not here looking for a fight!”

“Well, you found one.”

The man opened his mouth to respond, only to sputter in surprise when one of Lucky’s squeaky toys bounced off the side of his head and landed on the floor with a weak squeak.

The two blinked dumbly at the toy before looking up at the loft where Clint stood, his favorite, threadbare pajama bottoms barely clinging to his hips. He was in the middle of hooking one of his aids over his left ear and switching it on as he let out a tired yawn into his other hand. Then he started down the steps, hooking his right aid into place before he reached Bucky’s side and draped himself over his back from a step above the one Bucky was on.

“Why’reya havina pardywithoume?” he asked drowsily, reaching out to lower Bucky’s hand that was holding the knife.

“Didn’t want to disturb your sleep, Babydoll. You were having a good night.”

“Your fluffy cat sat on my head.” Clint muttered.

“Sorry, she was spooked by our unexpected intruder.” Bucky said, pointing with his knife at said intruder.

Clint hummed and kissed Bucky’s cheek, “Yeah, that chickenbutt is an asshole like that every time he decides to remind me he exists. Sorry, it’s been two years since the last time, I forgot to mention his occasional bullshit to you before… Ignore him, come back to bed.”

“Clint…”

“Barney’s mostly harmless. He’s here either to beg for handouts, to hide out for a bit, or to beg for me to pull some strings for him. We can deal with that come morning.”

“Barney? Wait, this asshole’s your brother?”

“Yup.”

“The brother that betrayed you?”

“Eh, I forgave him.”

“You say that as if I’m not the best Barton.” Barney smirked at the same time Clint had responded.

Clint glanced over at him, “It’s not hard to be the best Barton when you’re the only Barton.”

“What?”

Clint held up his hand to show off his wedding ring, “Tried to invite you, but you never respond when I try contacting you. Bucky’s my husband. I took his name. Also, surprise, I’m gay.”

“Married? When did you get married? The gay thing is pretty minor in comparison, especially when the first clue to that was when you draped yourself over a half naked man and kissed him while also being half naked.”

“Maybe next time you’ll answer when I call you. If you’re sticking around a bit, I’ll show you the wedding pictures. You’ll have to sleep on the couch, I’ll grab you a spare blanket.”

“Wait, shouldn't your wedding have been in the news at least? You’re both famous…”

“Nah, we’ve been good at keeping the press away from our relationship.” Clint said.

“And we’d like it to stay that way.” Bucky growled.

Barney held up his hands, “Hey, I owe my baby bro a lot. I’m not going to out him.”

“He’s an asshole, but he’s fine.” Clint said, patting Bucky’s shoulder as he walked past with a folded blanket—the one that was slightly itchy, much to Bucky’s delight, and the flattest pillow from their bed.

“Fine, he can stay the night—but no weapons!” Bucky agreed.

Clint shrugged as he dropped the bedding onto the couch for his brother, “You heard the man. Hand over the boomstick and the stabby stick. You’ll get them back when you leave.”

“Paranoid, isn’t he?” Barney asked, handing Clint his gun and the knife from the ankle holster he had on.

Clint hummed and shrugged, “Seeing as there are weekly attempts at killing us Avengers, I’d say he’s being nice to just require that you not have ready access to your weapons in our personal safe space. Now close that damn window and get some sleep. We’ll talk more in the morning.”

“Oh, I see how it is, you run off and get married and suddenly I’m not your favorite anymore.” Barney said, closing the window and picking up the things he’d knocked over in his sloppy entrance.

“It’s cute you thought you’ve been my favorite person all this time.” Clint snarked, walking back towards Bucky. “Lucky, make sure Uncle Barney doesn’t get lost tonight.”

Lucky barked, wagging his tail and as Barney kicked off his shows and laid down on the couch with the blanket over him, the dog jumped up on him, laying down and pinning the man in place.

Bucky turned off the light and followed Clint back up to the loft bedroom where Clint quickly placed Barney’s weapons into a locked safe in the closet. Then the blond turned towards Bucky and smiled, “You okay? Any flashbacks?”

Bucky shook his head, “Woke up to a nightmare. Was about to go down for animal snuggles when I heard your brother break in.”

“We got Alpine up here. I’m sure she’ll be okay with being moved off my pillow and closer to you since her big brother is busy tonight. And I can try staying up a little longer to cuddle you.”

Bucky smiled, feeling some of his anxieties melt away. “No, you should get back to sleep. I’ll be fine, Doll.

“Alright, but I’m going to insist upon using you as my pillow as I fall asleep again.”

Bucky laughed and slipped into bed, “As you wish.”

Grinning, Clint climbed into bed and carefully moved Alpine, who let out a lazy mew of protest, over to Bucky’s side where they could get comfortable together. He then removed his aids and turned off the bedside lamp before he also curled up into Bucky. “I love you, Buck.”

Bucky smiled, running his fingers through Clint’s hair in response. He was still a bit on edge having a stranger (to him) under his roof, but with Alpine purring against his chest and Clint curled into his side, he still felt safer than ever, and eventually he was able to drift back to sleep.

* * *

-End-

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
